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CHOOL 



Survey? 



By JOHN K. COX 



lAA Director of Rural School Relations 



IF YOU have difficulty deciding 

 whether your county should vote for 

 the School Survey, perhaps the follow- 

 ing questions may help you to decide. 

 Are there reasonable changes that can be 

 made in your school organization and 

 thus achieve more efficiency in adminis- 

 tration, more economy in operation, a 

 broader school program better adapted 

 to the needs of the community, and a 

 better bargaining position for the most 

 talented teachers? 



With a little serious thought, planning, 

 and reorganization would it be possible 

 to provide a fairer distribution of the tax 

 load, so that all the schools could be 

 soundly financed and no one would be 

 greatly burdened to meet the cost? If the 

 answer is yes, then it becomes the duty 

 of all civic minded people to try to bring 

 about the improvements they desire. The 

 employment of the provisions of the 

 School Survey offers the best method of 

 approach to solving these problems in a 

 democratic, voluntary way. 



Too often people who have a good 

 deal of taxable property and no children 

 do not assume any responsibility for the 

 school program in that community for 

 other people's children. This is a natural, 

 though somewhat selfish and short- 

 sighted reaction. District No. 73 in 

 Drummer township in Ford county is 

 an exception to that. Here the residents 



of the district had no children of school 

 age, no tax rate, and yet they were strong- 

 ly in favor of cooperating with other dis- 

 tricts in setting up a larger school district 

 and erecting a school building for the 

 welfare of their community. 



Also, in Edgar county, district No. 16 

 has a very low school tax, but it is re- 

 ported that popular approval favors its 

 merging with other districts that have 

 higher tax rates. There are many ex- 

 amples of such progresive, unselfish ac- 

 tions. 



What are the reasons given for this 

 praiseworthy attitude on the part of 

 local people. They recognize that a good 

 school system is an asset to a community 

 and it is their civic duty to promote and 

 help to support those things which make 

 their community life more wholesome, 

 safe, and productive. Also it is hardly 

 necessary to add that a good school sys- 

 tem adds to the value of property within 

 any negotiable distance. 



In spite of the many reasons for good 

 schools, handicaps to reasonable improve- 

 ments are always present. The main 

 handicaps are a lack of knowledge of 

 what constitutes a good school and a 

 lack of interest in what the school does. 

 Some people think that any school, just 

 so it is near at hand and has some kind 

 of teacher, is good enough. Many school 



board members will drive 1500 miles to 

 get just the right bull that fits in with 

 their herd, but will hire a school teacher 

 who is suposed to guide and educate 

 our own children without so much as 

 calling up the county superintendent to 

 check her teaching record. 



And yet, now and then, some person 

 will say, "We mustn't undermine the 

 rural school. " Rural schools in too many 

 cases are already undermined, neglected, 

 and all but forgotten. How many voters 

 attended your school election last Spring? 

 How many the year before? How many 

 people know anything about the school 

 district finances? How many know any- 

 thing about the ideals, attitudes, interests, 

 and background of the teacher? We 

 need to take out insurance against some 

 of the things our children are subjected 

 to in some schools. And we need i 



Other groups than the Illinois Agri- 

 cultural Association have worked dil- 

 igently for school improvement in Il- 

 linois for decades. The County School 

 Survey Law is considered by a num- 

 ber of these groups as offering the 

 best opportunity to improve schools, 

 particularly rural schools,' that has been 

 advanced in many years. Under this 

 plan the local study and effort would 

 largely determine the quality of our 

 school program for years to come. 



The three following quotations 

 were contributed to this issue of the 

 lAA Record and express the opinion 

 of the representatives of three organ- 

 izations. 1 ■ 



1- : .^ ■■ 



Robert M. Cole, Executive Director Il- 

 linois Association of School Boards 



"The County School Survey permits 

 an opportunity for the people in a 

 local community to really evaluate their 

 school. It provides an opportunity to 

 provide an adequate, sound financial 

 basis for the establishment of educa- 

 tional improvements for all children. 

 This survey should bring a better ed- 

 ucational program to the children in 

 all schools — rural or village schools 

 and high schools. For these reasons 

 the Illinois Association of School 

 Boards sincerely hopes that the people 

 in every county will elect to make their 

 own school survey." .1 r-i :/'- .' 



Irving F. Pearson, Executive Secretary, 

 Illinois Education Association 



"How many rural communities meet 

 school problems created by smaller 

 number of pupils, higher per capita 

 costs, scarcity of qualified teachers, and 

 inadequate courses of study? 



"Inevitably the consideration of this 

 question involves cooperation with 

 neighboring districts. Certainly it in- 



8 



L A. A. RECORD 



